Nam has 11th highest number of women in Parliament globally: Mbuende

08 Mar 2018 19:10pm

RUNDU, 08 MAR (NAMPA)  Globally, Namibia ranks 11th highest in terms of the representation of women in Parliament, the Ambassador of Namibia to the Benelux countries and the European Union, Kaire Mbuende has said.
Mbuendes remarks, made at a commemoration of International Womens Day in Braine-lAlleud, Belgium last Saturday, were quoted in a media statement by the Namibian Embassy to Belgium on Thursday.
He said there is a lot to celebrate, especially the tremendous achievement in the area of decision-making, where 38 per cent of the Namibian Cabinet consists of women, while 41 per cent of the Namibian Parliament constitutes female parliamentarians.
Globally, this is the 11th highest number of women in Parliament.
However, there are still areas lagging behind. It is therefore, a day of rededication to continue on the same path of scaling up gender empowerment, said Mbuende.
He said issues remaining on the agenda of transformation are high female unemployment, maternal mortality and structural imbalance in the labour market, characterised by a high concentration of women in certain professions.
A special book fair called EllessLivrent was dedicated to Namibia as a way of commemorating International Womens Day.
The EllesLivrent book fair is by invitation and Namibia was this years invitee, following Brazil and Japan.
Mbuende commended the organisers of the book fair for welcoming Namibia, and talked about the role played by Namibian women in the countrys literature, as well as achievements gained in the areas of gender empowerment in general.
A number of Namibian women have excelled in the area of literature, such as the late Neshani Andreas, Trudie Amulungu, Mwiya Munukayumbwa, Jane Katjavivi, Ellen Ndeshi Namhila, Lydia Shaketange, and many others, he said, adding, unfortunately, they could not be here today and we are also not able to display their work.
Two Dutch women, Leonor Faber-Joncker and Conny Braam presented their books on aspects of Namibian history at the turn of the 19th century, a period which includes the colonisation and resistance that resulted in the Nama and Herero genocide.
Professor Steven Van Wolputte from the University of Leuven spoke about demographics in the north-western part of Namibia.
There was also a presentation by Ingolf Diener, an author of a French book that gives a general overview of Namibia.
(NAMPA)
PM/PS/AS